Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry representing the Minister for Jobs and Innovation. Will the minister update the House on steps the government has taken to support jobs and growth in our economy? Is the minister aware of any different courses of action?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Tangney for his question. The Turnbull-McCormack government has created one million new jobs in the last 4½ years, five years ahead of the promise we made in the 2013 election. It's great news for the one million Australians who've gained jobs because of the policies of this government. They have benefitted from our pro-growth agenda and our jobs and growth policies, which are: less tax, a commitment to free trade, a support for industry like defence industry, infrastructure, agriculture, investment in education and the skills of our people, and less red tape, which we've been delivering for the last 4½ years.

But all this could be put at risk with the election of a Labor-CFMEU government at the next federal election. The Australian people have a right to know what the secret agreement is that the Leader of the Opposition struck with John Setka from the CFMEU in 2013 in order to defeat the people's choice for leader of the Labor Party back in 2013. It's nice to see the people's choice getting a run at the dispatch box. We thought he was the man in the iron mask for a while there, but it's nice to see him at the dispatch box every now and then. The Australian people have a right to know what the terms of the secret agreement contain. It's very, very important.

This weekend at the ALP Victorian conference the Leader of the Opposition has the opportunity to reveal the terms of the secret agreement. He also has the opportunity, if he chooses to take it to, to reject the CFMEU's motion about an unfettered right of striking. The CFMEU is sponsoring a motion to have an unfettered right to strike. The Leader of the Opposition could speak against it if he chose to do so. He could disappoint one of his frontbenchers, who said to the newspaper, 'The Leader of the Opposition has one response to a CFMEU request. It's yes.' That's what his own side says about his relationship with the CFMEU. He could also speak against John Setka's motion to tithe the ALP staffers' salaries. In the supporting documentation for tithing ALP staffers, John Setka writes:

Conference notes with concern that there are currently ministerial offices that harbour advisors with deeply anti-union sentiments ...

It's like a line out of a Trotsky speech, isn't it? You have offices over there literally harbouring advisors who might not be pro-union. That is another resolution from the CFMEU. So this weekend he can reject the motions from the CFMEU, he can reveal his secret agreement, he can reject the CFMEU's donations and he can throw the CFMEU out of the ALP. (Time expired)